Asuma Sarutobi

Asuma is a tall man with olive skin, brown eyes, and a short crop of spiky black hair set off by a beard. He wears the standard Leaf uniform with its sleeves pushed halfway up, a deep-green flak jacket, sandals, and forehead protector, adding a sash marked with the kanji for fire at his waist, black bangles, and bandaging wound around his forearms. As a genin he wore a short-sleeved white shirt with a blue-and-black collar over chain mail, a plain white vest, black pants, and a white belt, while his days among the Twelve Guardian Ninja saw him in a long-sleeved shirt with a fur-collared jacket, the guardian's sash, and his trench knives at hand.

By nature Asuma is easygoing and reluctant to step in unless a situation truly calls for it, as when he holds back during Hinata Hyuga's exam bout. A heavy smoker, he still drops the habit at pivotal moments, such as his father's death or the news of Kurenai's pregnancy. Though he and his father did not always agree, he grows to honor the Third's role and takes pride in his Sarutobi heritage. He speaks to his students with blunt affection, tagging Choji a glutton, Ino a loud mouth, and Shikamaru a slacker, yet he is genuinely close to all three, often treating them to barbecue and coaxing effort out of them with food and games. He is nearest to Shikamaru, forever losing to him at shogi, and it is Asuma who first spots the lazy boy's hidden genius. His long, quietly acknowledged bond with fellow jonin Kurenai Yuhi eventually produces a child.

Asuma is born to Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, and his wife Biwako, and he befriends Kurenai Yuhi at their Academy entrance. About seven years before the series he quarrels with his father and leaves the village to follow his own path, joining the Twelve Guardian Ninja who protect the Land of Fire's daimyo and forging a close friendship with the monk Chiriku. During those years he racks up a black-market bounty of thirty-five million ryo, a figure he takes real pride in, before returning home to resume his jonin duties and take charge of Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. Widely respected in the village, he is counted among Konoha's finest at close-quarters combat, fighting with taijutsu and a pair of chakra-conductive trench knives. His Wind Release sharpens those blades enough to cut through stone, and he can also breathe out a cloud of gunpowder-like ash that detonates into a devastating blast.

During the Konoha Crush he arrives just in time to rout a band of Oto-nin closing in on Shikamaru, and afterward he stands at his father's funeral. Later, assigned with his team to hunt Akatsuki members who have entered the Land of Fire, Asuma corners Hidan and Kakuzu at a bounty station and discovers Hidan's immortality the hard way. He duels Hidan directly with Shikamaru's shadows in support, and once Shikamaru breaks the ritual binding them, Asuma beheads his foe with his extended blades. Kakuzu intervenes to restore his partner, Hidan resumes the curse and stabs himself through the heart, and the linked wound proves fatal to Asuma. Before he dies he leaves parting words for each of his students, entrusting his Will of Fire and his unborn "king" to Shikamaru, and finishes a last cigarette.

In preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kabuto Yakushi reincarnates Asuma to fight the Allied Shinobi Forces, and he is soon forced to face his former students in combat. Moving against his own will, he coaches them on how to counter his attacks even as he strikes at them, and Choji's refusal to harm his teacher nearly proves costly until Choza shields the trio and steels his son's resolve. Overcome at last by a flawless Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Asuma praises their teamwork and thanks them before he is bound and sealed away, his soul returning to the afterlife once the reincarnation is undone. His legacy runs deep: a celebrated record of skill that younger shinobi long to match, the training of the next Ino-Shika-Cho, his guidance of Naruto through wind-nature practice, and the daughter, Mirai, he fathers with Kurenai, the very "king" he asks Shikamaru to protect.